The Earth Hour

It is time we do something! Most of us are aware that our environment is no longer 'sustainable'. Waste products are being generated at a faster rate than its degradation. It sure is not an easy thing to be aware of the consequences of our daily actions but like all habits, it takes time to get use to it. We can start with as simple as turning off the lights before we leave the room or keep all plastic bottles to be recycled. Sure, not everyone is doing it but hei, if there is someone doing it, that is one less individual's waste to be dealt with.

Since WWF is aware that a lot of actions needs to be motivated, they had came up with Earth Hour 2007 in Sydney, Australia, where everyone is asked to turn off their lights for an hour. It was as easy as that. It was a very successful outcome, as they had reduced 10.2% of their energy usage for that day. Can you imagine if just for one hour a day, we observed just that - we will be saving a lot of energy, coal supplies can last longer and excessive CO2 emission will not be such a scary phenomenon.

SO, this year, WWF has made the Earth Hour a global movement. Ladies and gentlemen, that means we, who are not in Sydney, WILL play our part in the Earth Hour. All we have to do is not consume any electricity for an hour, 8-9pm, on Saturday, March 29th. It is as easy as that. Maybe some of us will think - aiyoh, no electricity for an hour beh tong lah - but hei, there are so many things we can do without electricity. Call some friends and go out for mamak - they can make teh tarik without electricity. Or light some candles and hang out at home with family and friends. Or just go sleep early. *bleh*

While major cities like Chicago, New York, Bangkok, Toronto, and Sydney are the ones who are directly involved, that does not mean those of us not living in the city should not participate. In fact, MSU has taken a step further. There will be an MSU Dim Down hour from 12pm to 1pm on Friday, where everyone are encouraged to turn of their lights. That is definitely not a problem in BPS since we have huge windows that allow sunlight to come through.

As for those back in Malaysia, don't be 'whatever-lah' because none of our cities is officially affiliated with the movement. There are supporters all over so let us all play our role!

Happy Easter!

Nope, Ping don't officially celebrate Easter but being brought up in a multiracial country, we tend to participate in any celebration, curious to know the significance of a certain celebration, and of course, we enjoy the holiday along with it. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after full moon after March 21st - the Lunar calendar is not only a guide to the Chinese occasions - which is March 23rd this year since full moon is on March 22nd.

Ping's Easter weekend started out to be a pretty white weekend. Just as Lin Pei and Ping were already enjoying the Spring weather walking along Grand River Avenue drinking bubble tea on Wednesday evening, the weather decides that it is not done snowing yet. We got 3 inches of snow on Friday!! Yup!! It certainly is pretty but it did not last through the entire Saturday as most of it were gone by the time we went out for lunch. Went to Fazoli's for lunch - Italian fast food. That is one of Ping's favorite place too. Reasonable and portions are big enough that you can bring it home for another meal. Ping got the Chicken Parmesan oven-baked pasta this trip but another one of Ping's favorite is their Alfredo Fettucini..yummy!!

After lunch, Ping went home to bake chocolate cupcakes for the early dinner potluck at Jim and Karen's place (they are Gylin and Boon Keat's mentor from church). A bunch of us M'sians met up at their place and spent some time there 'socializing' before heading to Trinity church. That was where Ping learned about the significance of Easter day - to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his death on Good Friday. Right after the Easter service, we 'joined' the kids in egg hunting! Okay, so the egg is to symbolize rebirth but Easter bunnies - those are just Hallmark's attempt at making money. *bleh* At Jim and Karen's place, they gave out little ziplock bags of different colored Jelly Bellies and a little note that says:

The Jelly Bean Prayer
Red for the blood He gave,
Green for the grass He made,
Yellow is for the sun so bright,
Orange for the edge of night.

Black for the sins we made
White for the grace He gave,
Purple for the hour of sorrow,
Pink is for the new tomorrow.

Give a bag full of jelly beans,
Colorful and sweet,
Tell them it's a Prayer...
It's a promise...an Easter Treat!!

Isn't it sweet?

As 9pm approaches, we were all geared up to start cheering for Spartans in the NCAA games! Wait, Ping have to go start some cultures first. So Ping went back to lab but made it to Lin Pei's place for the 2nd half, which was the better part of the game and guess what! We're going for Sweet Sixteen!!!! Yippeeee!!! Go Neitzel!! He was totally high and confident in the last 10 minutes or so!!! Awesome game!!

Ping's day ended with a movie with TT, Jo, Fred and Tim at NCG watching The Shutter.
It is a ghost movie based on a Thai movie also with the name Shutter, with just a little different story-line. It was an okay movie, Ping was expecting it to be a little more 'geli' or 'mo kui chang' but there was only 2 main scene that got Ping almost jumping out the chair. Surprisingly, the main actor is Joshua Jackson from Dawson's Creek...just couldn't picture him in such movie. Haha...

Leo the Lizard

It was a warm and quiet Sunday afternoon. Ping was watching 微笑Pasta with mum and ahdik in the living room when we heard daddy said, "nah, nah, nah, lu eh peng you lai liow" (You friend is here). Staying at Sungai Emas, where our house is facing the hills and it is less than a mile away from the deep forest, it is no surprise that we get 4-legged visitors once in a while so they have become our 'friends'. Wanting to see who it is this time, we paused the show and went to the glass door. The moment Ping saw how big it is, Ping grabbed her camera and shot a video of it! It is a huge monitor lizard (巨蜥) Definitely the biggest one Ping have ever seen! A very brave one too...hence, Ping named it Leo! Just the day before we saw Leo, a smaller one had come by but the moment we opened the glass door, it ran away. Leo on the other hand, wasn't going to have his afternoon walk be bothered by some human who has nothing better to do other than to look at him (actually, how do we tell their gender? or do they have one?). The poor thing must have had its tail bitten by dogs or some other animals. It came knocking on the glass door and pose for ahdik to take its photo too! It finally did ran away when we went out and dad shooed it away.

Biovalley or Bo-Valley?

A long long time ago (7 years ago), just as Ping was leaving her home country - Malaysia - to pursue her tertiary education in the United States, there was a buzz that Malaysia will develop its own 'Biotechnology Center'. Have you heard about that? Ping still hears about it every now and then. Every time Ping steer the conversation to 'but M'sia got no job for scientists leh', there will be someone who says, 'Aiyah, the biotechnology center coming up mah!'.

When Ping goes home for summer breaks, and some relatives asks the regular ke-poh (busy body) questions, one of them including, 'What are you studying?". When told that it has something to do with science, the response will be - Wah, gau lo. Lang M'sia eh biotechnology center beh khi lai liow, chin chia eng chui kang (wow, so smart. Our M'sian biotechnology center is coming up so it will be pretty easy to find a job). Hmmm...

But you know what? Ping has not seen of any evidence on the development of the biotechnology center except that it will be located near Putrajaya. Ping got the same comment just less than a month ago when having dinner with a friend back in Penang - What about the biotechnology center?. Errr....if there really is one, why don't you see job listings? Why don't you see the ads for the companies in the nation's newspaper? The Star usually does a pretty good job at publishing new companies. If the biotechnology center is something that is so huge and to be proud of, where exactly is it? True, Ping have not been following the Star everyday but it never felt like the place existed. If this research center exists, why are science graduates working in sales departments?

You know why? Because it was never really 'brought up'. In fact, just this morning, Ping found out that it is called 'Biovalley'. And nope, it wasn't in The Star. It was from an article in Nature!! So Ping was right that it was located near Putrajaya - Dengkil and that there never really was a 'Biovalley'. One of the reasons mentioned by the author is the 'Malay comes first' issue that never cease to get our blood pressure up. It was also mentioned that 'Good people go overseas'. Hmm...if they know that, why aren't they doing anything about it? Ping would have jumped with joy to be working back home. But no, opportunities doesn't seem to direct Ping towards home. There are so many research area one can hunt on in Malaysia - a tropical country with a high diversity flora and fauna. Most of the questions asked here could be so much more interesting back in Malaysia. We have acres and acres of rubber trees, paddy fields, palm oil plantation, it is not only applied science but there can be so many fundamental science questions. Anyone ever look at the microbial community that thrives in the tropical forests? How does the community change with draught? Flood? Does agricultural practice like rubber tree plantation reduce microbial diversity? What about waste water treatment? How many anaerobic digestor are there in Malaysia? Have they tried biochar application in small scale commercial agricultural plots? There are sooooooooo many things that can be done back in Malaysia and they can be unique to our tropical environment...and yet, they had failed to attract such interests. Hence, the name sounds more like 'Bo-Valley'. The article was from 2005. So what is going on now? Ping Googled and all you get is news up to 2006, wondering what had happened to the 'Valley'.

Now that the DAP has taken over Penang AND SELANGOR (whoooohooooo!!! Ping and Jo was still excited to hear the pleasant surprise this morning!), maybe they will do something about the white elephant. Ping has got a few more years to go and hopefully that will be enough time for them to do something. For right now, better keep hopes low first. But wouldn't it be great if Ping could go back to Malaysia after graduation? *grins*

還在想家

我會來已經一個星期了. 這裡的生活是自私的生活, 只要為自己想. 但是, 比較喜歡跟家庭熱鬧的生活. 其實, 要開心是很簡單的.像今天, 早上calibrate O2 sensor 的時候,完的滿開心的因為學到了新的東西, 又進步了一點. 下午, 完成了一些figures也值得開心的.不只是自己做的是, 作bus回家的時候,看到路人的表情也滿有趣的.

但, 到了晚上, 那有睡覺的時刻, 感覺又不一樣了. 大白天的時候, 自己很容易滿足. 晚上的時, 決的房間好安靜, 氣氛很冷漠, 心情很寂寞, 感覺到孤單, 腦海裡想者那有的沒的...


好想念爸爸, 媽媽, ahmah, 還有家庭的熱鬧哦. 很想找我的溫柔感...